Goldbottom Creek Mine, Nome Mining District, Nome Census Area, Alaska, USAi

Regional Level Types
Goldbottom Creek Mine	Mine
Nome Mining District	Mining District
Nome Census Area	Census Area
Alaska	State
USA	Country

See also Silver Creek (NM094), Steep Creek (NM093) and Grouse Creek (NM099).
Location: Goldbottom Creek is the main drainage on the southwest side of Mount Distin. It has been placer mined for gold upstream from its confluence with Steep Creek and into section 31, T. 8 S., R 33 W., Kateel River Meridian. Goldbottom Creek, including Steep Creek, is locality 85 of Cobb (1972 [MF 463], 1978 [OFR 78-93]).
Geology: Goldbottom Creek was placer mined for gold at least as early as 1900 (Brooks and others, 1901). Moffit (1913, p. 87) reported that hand mining and a small hydraulic plant operated in the upper part of the creek in 1905. Moffit (1913) also reported stream tin (cassiterite) at several places in the creek. Goldbottom Creek was later worked by small-scale mechanical methods. Mining perhaps was in conjunction with small-scale mechanical mining on Silver Creek (NM094) and Steep Creek (NM093). Silver Creek and Steep Creek, also Grouse Creek (NM099), are eastern tributaries of Goldbottom Creek. Production on Goldbottom Creek is unknown, but was fairly small. Some small-scale mining and prospecting have been carried out in recent years. Goldbottom Creek drains the basal contact of the massive marble unit mapped by Hummel (1962 [MF 248]) and Bundtzen and others (1994). One of the compilers (C.C. Hawley) mapped this section of Goldbottom Creek at 1inch to 1,000 feet in 1995 and identified several possible structures that could source gold above the head of placer pay. About 1,000 feet above the head of the placer deposit, Goldbottom Creek enters a canyon, and flood-plain gravels are too thin and narrow to be exploited except on a very small scale. Approximately 6,000 feet above the placer, the creek crosses the lower contact of massive marble and is in this unit for about 2,000 feet. In this reach of the canyon, the marble is highly dolomitized and cut by small quartz veinlets. The marble is in a synclinal structure, and the basal contact is cut again by Goldbottom Creek in its northern headwaters. About 3000 feet above the upper basal marble contact, Goldbottom Creek crosses part of the Penny River fault system that hosts the California prospect (NM062). The possible sources of placer gold in Goldbottom Creek include the complexly veined dolomite unit, the sheared basal contact zone of massive marble, and veins associated with the Penny River fault system. Moffit (1913) reported granitic boulders in Goldbottom Creek gravels, so some gold may have been derived from reworking of glacial deposits derived from the Kigluaik Mountains.
Workings: Hand and small-scale mechanical placer mining started as early as 1900 and may still be active on Goldbottom Creek.
Age: Quaternary.

Commodities (Major) - Au; (Minor) - Sn
Development Status: Yes; small
Deposit Model: Placer Au (Cox and Singer, 1986; model 39a).

Other Databases

Link to USGS - Alaska:	NM095

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References